Battling the New Normal
by Crime Crusaders Contest
Summary: After the snap. After the Avengers' final battle with Thanos. He thought he was going to war before he was turned. Maybe this smaller battle was the one he was meant to fight instead... with a little help.


Story Title: Battling the New Normal

Summary: After the snap. After the Avengers' final battle with Thanos. He thought he was going to war before he was turned. Maybe this smaller battle was the one he was meant to fight instead... with a little help.

Pairing: Edward/Bella

Rating: M

Word count: 6,944

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong solely to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

"Dammit."

I thought there were three of them. I thought I'd be able to hear anyone else approach. As much as I appreciated not having a million voices in my head thanks to "the blip," it was really inconvenient when trying to hunt down the lowlifes that seemed to be multiplying in our city. That's how this asshole managed to get the drop on me while I was preoccupied with his associates. I had dealt with the other metahumans easily, but this one was a real pain in my ass. He was ugly as hell with yellowed teeth, a scarred face, and at least one cauliflower ear, but he was stronger and faster than most of the metahumans I had come across. Adding insult to injury, this ugly asshole was currently kicking my ass all over the alley.

Kicking my ass until I heard a _thwip_ of an arrow. He immediately went down, an arrow in his jugular that ensured he was dead before he hit the ground. I looked up to see an archer clad in black with gloves, a mask, and a hood, shrouded in the darkness, carefully keeping their identity hidden.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Really? That's what you're leading with? How about thanks for saving my ass? What's an archer like you doing in a place like this? Fancy meeting you here?" The voice was using a modulator so I couldn't tell who or what I was dealing with.

"Pfffffft… I would have gotten out of it," I scoffed.

I wouldn't have gotten out of it, if I were being completely honest.

"Oh OK, vamp boy."

"Wait, how do you know what I am?"

"I'm smarter than the average bear." And with that, the archer disappeared into the shadows. As they departed, the archer yelled back, "It's Apollo, by the way."

Who the hell was this Apollo archer and how did they know about vampires? More importantly, why the hell was a metahuman helping other metahumans? Metahumans working together was a new and unwelcome development.

The snap, the blip, whatever you wanted to call it – it changed everything. With the first snap, half of the earth's living population disappeared in an instant. The five years that followed were pure anguish for the humans around us. My family moved to remote Alaska so that Jasper and I could have a break from all of the grief surrounding us in populated areas. Some people lost everyone important to them in one split second. The amount and extent of the pain was too much for my brother, an empath, and me, a mind reader, to handle. We did all we could from a distance so we could bear it. We manned grief hotlines that had been set up, we gave to any social program that we thought could help the survivors recover from such an awful blow, we called in anonymous tips when my sister, Alice, had a vision. With everything we did, it still never felt like enough.

And then, the second snap. Not only did it return all of the loved ones who had been turned to ash, this time it had an effect on vampires as well. Our first hint that something had changed was Alice's terrified screams. She couldn't see our future, she couldn't see the earth's future – everything was a void when she tried to look ahead. And when I tried to see her vision, I also saw nothing. I assumed I was seeing her thoughts, but then I looked up and saw that Jasper had an odd expression on his face and I didn't know why. And that's when everything clicked into place. I didn't know why Jasper had an odd expression on his face because I didn't know what he was thinking. For the first time in my vampire life, I couldn't hear anyone's voice in my head except mine. There was just silence - blissful, beautiful silence.

What we didn't know then was that some of the disappeared came back different. They were stronger than the average human or faster or had thicker skin. Some could walk around, virtually silent, impossible to track. Others developed a tough exoskeleton that protected them from harm. Pair those metahuman qualities with an existing criminal mind? You have chaos. It was Gotham City, come to life.

I knew regular humans would struggle to fight these souped up criminals. There were some metahumans who were good and were fighting the good fight, but they were spread too thin. There simply were not enough of them, and we certainly didn't have someone like Batman to swoop in and save the day after a signal of a bat was beamed into the sky. I decided that the least I could do with my enhanced strength was help them fight. Before Carlisle turned me, I planned to fight in the war. It may be smaller, but maybe this was the battle I was meant to fight.

As the weeks went on, each time I confronted a gang of metahumans, the archer was above, covering my back. I had to admit, they were an astounding shot and utterly calm in the chaos surrounding them.

We became more and more comfortable with each other over time. The archer still concealed their identity with the voice modulator and their hood and mask, but began to feel safe enough with me to come down from their perch after fights. Apollo was about a head shorter than me and slim, but made of pure muscle. I absentmindedly considered whether Apollo was male or female but realized I didn't care what was under the black clothes they wore. The archer never missed their mark and had my back - that's all that really mattered.

We began comparing notes about how metahumans were suddenly working together after acting solo for so long. Something was definitely up and that something or someone was bringing the criminal metahumans together. We agreed that if we wanted to stop the devastation of our city, we were going to have to find the person at the center of all of this. And while it was great to have backup while fighting, it was fantastic to have someone to bounce ideas and strategies off of. No matter what was happening, there was an ease between us built from all of the time we spent together on our shared mission and I truly enjoyed Apollo's company.

We had just dispatched another group of metas and Apollo had jumped down from their perch when a second wave appeared. There was no time for the archer to get to the roof above us, so we stood back to back, both squared off and ready for the metahumans to attack.

As they approached, Apollo muttered, "I think we lost the element of surprise."

"Ya think?" I replied just as the fight began.

As I fought a metahuman with a thick exoskeleton, I tried to keep an eye on the archer so I could jump in if they needed me. By what I saw, I was more likely to need their help. Not only was Apollo vicious in their attack, there was a mesmerizing grace to their fight style as well. My momentary distraction almost cost me, but having dispatched their opponent, the archer grabbed my meta's shoulder from behind and used that to propel themselves around his body, swinging their legs up and scissoring his head between their thighs to give the archer the leverage to take the larger man down. Once he was on the ground, Apollo pressed the end of their bow on the meta's carotid artery, knocking him out.

I must have looked shocked because the archer looked at me and said, "What?"

"You are an amazing fighter. Where did you learn that?"

"My aunt. And then others after her. Don't move." And with that small warning, the archer jumped towards me, using my shoulders as an anchor, and aimed their legs to my side, drop kicking the meta behind me in the neck, instantly breaking it. Fucking super silent metas were the worst.

"So, what do we do with the metahuman asshole?" I asked, gesturing to the one meta still breathing.

"That's easy. Place a tracker with a bug on him and wait for him to lead us to their headquarters. At the very least we'll get a better idea of what's happening."

Brilliant. Lethal with a bow and arrow and when fighting up close. I still didn't have a clue who Apollo was, but my respect for them kept growing.

"May I ask why you want to sell your company? It's up and coming and hasn't even reached its full potential. If you waited a year, you could probably sell for double." The woman across the desk from me was a partner at one of the bigger tech companies in the city.

"I enjoy the challenge of a start-up but find the day-to-day operations once it takes off to be tedious. It's not about the money, Ms. Swan. It's about being happy in life. I think we all learned that lesson a few years ago." I saw a shadow pass her face when I mentioned the blip. Interesting.

The truth of the matter was that my start-up, my cover for my nighttime activities, was beginning to draw too much attention. I wouldn't be able to keep my anonymity soon and without being able to read minds, I had to make decisions blindly. I couldn't even rely on Alice to see outcomes - ALL vampires lost their special abilities. The void she saw was simply what everyone else saw when trying to see the future - the unknown. The loss of special abilities was how the Volturi were finally defeated. They had no hold over their subjects after the blip, making the Avengers' job to dismantle them laughably easy. Not that anyone knew about that mission, of course. We still had to live in secrecy for now. Humans had simply been through too much recently to be able to handle another big shock. And learning that vampires walked among them and had for centuries would definitely be a shock.

"As long as you're sure, Mr. Cullen. I'll have my lawyers start going through the company's records and financials. As long as everything is in order, they will send you a draft agreement and we can hash out the details then." She reached out and shook my hand. She was slim and dressed immaculately in a business suit and heels while somehow still managing to look soft and feminine. It would be easy to write her off as just another pencil-pushing executive if it wasn't for her handshake. Her grip was surprisingly strong and took me by surprise. There was some serious physical power hiding under her soft appearance.

"I look forward to it," I said with a smile. The negotiations between us had suddenly become far more interesting than I had anticipated. Now that I knew there was more to Ms. Swan than met the eye, I was intrigued. My watch beeped with an incoming message that the tracker and bug had been activated. "I'm afraid I need to go, Ms. Swan. It was a pleasure."

Her watch chimed and she glanced down. A slight smirk crossed her lips, but she managed to school her features before looking up. "It seems I do as well. I'll let you know if we run into any problems."

Dusk had already started to fall as I inserted an earpiece so I could hear the bug and made my way to the tracker's location. All I could hear was Russian. Lots and lots of Russian, but a dialect I didn't know. I could pick up enough words and phrases, but the small nuances escaped me. I had to wonder if the Russian mob was involved and was not thrilled with the prospect of battling both the metas and the Bratva.

A few minutes after I arrived, Apollo appeared out of the shadows.

"I'm thinking the Russian mob is behind this. You?"

Apollo listened to the conversation picked up by the bug and furrowed their brow. "No. Not Bratva, although that's what they want us to think. Wrong area of Russia. And Russian isn't these guys' native language, which means they found the tracker and the bug. We need to go." Apollo looked around and saw we were about to be surrounded and outnumbered. "Fuck. Hold on, vamp boy." Apollo shot a grappling hook up where it caught on the roof of a neighboring building and took us upward.

"New toy?" I asked as we zipped up the line.

"It seemed like a smart addition."

As we landed, Apollo immediately reached into their boot for a knife and threw it with deadly accuracy at the metahuman that had anticipated our move to the roof and started to approach.

"You know, I am a vampire. I could have jumped."

"Right. Forgot about that. Fine, do your thing and get us out of here - it'll be faster."

"Well, jump on and hold tight."

When Apollo was on my back, holding tight against me, I realized something very interesting. Apollo was a woman.

A few weeks later, Ms. Swan dropped by my office to deliver the first draft of our agreement. As she sat down across my desk from me, we both jumped at the sound of shattering glass in the conference room next door.

"Stay here," I said as I got up to check out what was happening. Ms. Swan rolled her eyes and followed right behind me.

Without time for me to prepare, a fast metahuman lunged for me as soon as I crossed the threshold. I began to fight him off and tried to draw him away from Ms. Swan so she could escape. Much to my surprise, she pulled a small knife from the waistband of her skirt and started fighting one of the metahumans in hand-to-hand combat. When he knocked the knife out of her hands, she smiled wickedly at him like that had been the plan all along. The next time she ducked a blow, she took off one of her heels and promptly impaled the stiletto in her attacker's throat.

We kept fighting, dispatching most of our attackers easily until the final two – both with a wicked combination of enhanced strength and natural fighting talent with a tough exterior that meant our blows just weren't affecting them. We were both fighting with everything we had and were getting nowhere. We had met our match and they were not tiring. Bella managed to swing her attacker behind me using a great throw, while I had managed to knock mine down. Unfortunately, both of them were only down and not out.

She spun around to face me and said, "Don't move."

As she used my shoulders to brace herself and drop kick the meta behind me through the window, everything clicked into place.

Bella Swan was Apollo. I didn't have any time to think further about it, though, as she swung her legs back down and then behind her, arching her back to give her legs enough height to grab the final meta's neck in a scissor hold with her thighs, as I had seen her do so many times before. I heard his neck break as she landed, crouched on the floor, ready for any additional threats.

"That seems to be it," I said as I reached out my hand to help her up.

"We're not done yet. Grab whatever evidence you can," she instructed. "I'm going to find some zip ties for us."

"For us?"

"Of course for us. Do you really want the police to know who we are? It has to look like we couldn't possibly have been responsible for taking all these metahumans down."

"Good point," I said. Such a good point that I really should have thought of it myself. My only defense was that I was still in shock that Bella Swan was Apollo. I rifled through the attackers' pockets and found one dead, throwaway cell phone and nothing else. I slipped the phone into the back of a filing cabinet in my office in the hopes the police wouldn't find it and returned to the destroyed conference room. I could hear sirens approaching and saw lights flashing in the distance.

"Cops are almost here," I alerted her.

"OK. Put this tape over your mouth and then help me zip tie my wrists and ankles. Then I'll do you."

"Why Ms. Swan, I never!" I teased.

She rolled her eyes at me. "If you don't get moving, you never will, vamp boy."

I looked at her, utterly dumbfounded. Did she just flirt with me? My mouth must have been gaping open at that point because she walked over to me while ripping a piece of tape from the roll and cocked an eyebrow.

"Close," she instructed and I snapped my jaw shut just in time for her to slap a piece of tape across my mouth.

We quickly fastened the zip ties around our ankles and she took care of cinching my wrists, looking directly into my eyes when tightening them. When her fingers grazed my skin, it was pure electricity. I slid a tie around her wrists and tightened them, ghosting my fingers over her pulse point when I was finished.

She gasped quietly.

We quickly slid down the wall so we were sitting next to each other, arms touching, and a palpable attraction was in the air while we waited for the police.

"Drink?" I asked, holding up a bottle of whiskey. We had given the police our statements, acting appropriately freaked out at the experience they thought we had, and quickly escaped to my apartment.

"Definitely."

"So…" I said.

"So." she replied.

"The name Apollo? I'm guessing because of archery and the swans in his myths?"

"Yeah. Pretty obvious once you think about it. Nobody has made the connection so far though. Until now, that is," she said and tilted her glass towards me in acknowledgment.

"The fighting?"

"Like I said, my aunt." A shadow passed over her face. "And then others after she was gone."

"After she was gone? The blip?"

She looked at me wryly. "Not exactly."

"And how do you know Russian?"

"Also my Aunt Nat."

And now I had a name.

"How did you get to be such a good archer?"

"My dad is the best there is and he taught me."

She looked at me, daring me to continue.

I switched tactics. "Anything you want to ask me?"

"Nope. You're Edward Cullen or Edward Masen or Mase Cullen or Anthony Masen or any combination of those names. You were sired by Carlisle Cullen in 1918. Your mother, for all intents and purposes, is Esme Cullen. Also in your coven - Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper. Your family is quite the anomaly. Currently, you're living on your own although by the color of your eyes, it doesn't seem to be diet related this time. I'm not sure why or if that's important. Should I go on?" she asked with a smirk.

I'm sure I looked shocked as she dropped more and more information about my life. Information she shouldn't have known. Unless… unless she had access to the Volturi's files.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Bella Swan, Edward. I'm pretty sure we covered that."

"Is that your real name?"

"Real in that I chose it for myself, yes."

"Swan. Interesting choice. A beautiful yet fierce creature. Protective of their family. Isn't afraid to attack if needed. Fitting."

"Thanks? Where are you going with this?"

"How did you get access to the Volturi's files?"

"I have friends. They get me the information I need," she replied warily.

"And you needed information on me?"

"Yes, of course. I knew I was working with a vampire, but I didn't know if I could trust you or if I should keep that night a one-time thing. So, I called in a favor, sent your photo, and had someone look you up in the files taken from Volterra. You can't really blame me."

I nodded. "Friends. I only know one group of people that has access to that information and I have a feeling that some of them are more than friends. Family, perhaps? Are your siblings also in the vigilante business?"

Faster than I thought possible, Bella stood behind my chair and had me in a chokehold and held a lighter in front of my face. "They are not up for discussion."

I lifted my hands in surrender and we both stayed there, frozen for a moment before she let me go.

"Note to self, siblings are off the table. As for everything else, let me know if what I'm assuming is correct - your 'friends' are the remaining members of The Avengers. Your dad is Hawkeye, your name is definitely not Bella Swan - nice touch with the bird thing by the way - and your aunt was actually Natasha Romanov. I'm sorry you lost her. She was a real hero and taught you well."

Bella took a step back and looked away, her eyes shimmering with tears she refused to let fall. She took a moment and then turned to me. "So… what now?"

"Now we charge this phone and see what we can find."

"And then?" she asked.

I thought for a moment. "A date?"

She looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Edward Cullen. We're hunting metahumans and you just asked me out on a date?"

"Appears so. I mean, not tonight, of course. Maybe once all of this is wrapped up. What do you say? Restaurant, flowers, a kiss goodnight on your doorstep?" I teased.

She rolled her eyes and thought for a moment. "Maybe. And a kiss goodnight on my doorstep? How old are you, vamp boy? Even Cap had more game than you."

"Well he was born the same year I was turned so…"

~~

"Fuck."

We were hitting obstacles and dead ends left and right. It shouldn't have surprised me, but it was still frustrating as hell.

First, it took a bit of time to get the damn phone unlocked, but after consulting with some of her "friends," Bella managed to break into it. The trace on the phone was taking much longer than expected. Whoever set it up had it pinging off of cell towers all over the world. And finally, there was only one text on the phone and it was a mess:

_**Vodkvx bj Meqtzr Pwzxie. Hbjicfx jig fc zsk hxjbsir. Eoepwzk: kekxmu cl i jnoduvv. Ezrqo, xbaoons nyk hh ewu xxaheqm. Nvzrz gqfwxa pney fs klx nisyawifg.**___

My instinct said it was a cipher and it looked like it was probably the Vigènere Cipher at that. Now we just needed the key phrase they used so that we could decode the text. I started to run through popular phrases used in wars, hoping they hadn't created something new. I quickly ran the various keys from the Civil War through my head. None were working. None, that is, until I used "Come Retribution," a key used by the Confederate Army in the late winter and early spring of 1865. Using the cipher and the key, I was able to decode the text.

_**Target is Edward Cullen. Disable but do not destroy. Warning: target is a vampire. Again, disable but do not destroy. Bring pieces back to the warehouse.**_

Whoever was organizing the metahumans into coordinated attacks knew who I was. More importantly, they knew what I was and how to disable me without killing me. And that narrowed things down to a much more manageable pool of suspects.

Had someone who had access to the Volturi Files gone rogue? Or was this a vampire using metahumans to take control of the city? Were we about to descend into another fight for power akin to the Southern Vampire Wars?

I exhaled heavily.

"What is it?" Bella asked.

I slid the cipher translation over to her.

She looked at it and once it sunk in, her eyes widened and she looked at me, a stunned expression on her face.

"Edward?"

"I know."

"Edward, what the hell does this mean?"

"I have some ideas, Bella, but I need to make a call first. I'll keep an eye on the tracker and you should get some rest while you can."

She looked at me, concern etched in her features. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked while reaching out and grabbing hold of my hand.

I smiled wryly and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I really don't know, Bella. I really don't know."

"Jasper?"

"Edward! How's it going, man? How's the vampire vigilante thing going?"

I sighed. "It's going. Actually, that's why I called. Can I run a few things by you? I have a bit of a situation on my hands." I told him about how the metahumans were suddenly working together and everything that followed including the cipher, but didn't reveal that Bella was Apollo. That was her secret to tell if or when she wanted to. I gave him my half-formed theories and knew he'd be able to analyze them using all of his strategic knowledge, ingrained in him as both a human and a vampire who served in an army.

After taking a few minutes to think, he replied, "I don't think it's quite what you're thinking of, although the Southern Vampire Wars is probably the closest out of what you mentioned. Whoever is running this isn't turning newborns, right? So that rules out a vampire trying to seize territory. So far, they've been using the metahumans to make the citizens of the city feel unsafe. Their coordinated attack on you and Apollo is definitely a sign of them trying to remove threats, which makes me think they're moving on with whatever the bigger plan is. So now they've terrorized the citizens of the city, while simultaneously setting themselves up as the only one who can save them. They have control of the metahumans and they can spin the surviving metas as good ones and the only beings powerful enough to combat crime. They present them as a group of hometown avengers, if you will. Obviously, after deploying the "good" metahumans, the attacks stop so it looks to the public like it works. Objectively, I'd say they're trying to get control of the city, but to what end, I don't know. The answer to that question is the key."

"Thanks, man. That makes a lot of sense. Hey, how's Alice holding up?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I know she was having a hard time losing her power and…"

"No, that's not what I meant," he interrupted. "Isn't Alice with you?"

"Me? Why would she be with me?"

"She said she needed some time to deal with losing her powers. To mourn, she said. To get used to not having control of everything."

I winced. "Jasper? When? When did she say she was coming here?"

He groaned. "A couple of months ago. You don't think…"

"Jasper, I honestly don't know what to think, but there are way too many coincidences to rule her out."

There was silence for a moment. "I'll be there tomorrow. Don't do anything without me."

Bella was up early the next day. Her tracker was still running and even with her tweaks, who knew if she would ever get a result.

She frowned at the computer and then looked up at me. "Any news?"

"Yes. A lot. I spoke with my brother last night and the basic conclusion we came to was that someone is trying to take control of the city. He's on his way and should be here soon."

"That tracks with what we've seen." She scrutinized my face for a moment. "Edward? Why is your brother coming?"

I sighed. I was going to tell her once we knew for sure, but apparently I wouldn't be able to wait. "Sit with me?"

We got ourselves settled on the couch, Bella's feet tucked under her and her body turned towards mine. I had my arm across the back of the sofa and she laid her head on it as she looked up at me. "Tell me?"

"We think it might be Alice," I said quietly.

"Alice? The one who could see the future? That Alice?" she asked, bolting upright.

"Yes. She didn't take losing her power well. She loved being in control and finding the right outcome to every situation before making a decision. It gave her a sense of security."

"God. I actually feel kind of bad for her. Imagine going from a mental institution where she had no control over anything to finding a way to control everything. To go back to feeling like she has no control must be so devastating for her."

"That's kind of you to say, ma'am," Jasper said from the doorway. He turned to me and held out his hand. "Edward."

I got up, grasped his hand, and pulled him into a hug. I'd never seen him look so haggard in all the decades I'd known him. "I've missed you, brother," I said quietly. Once he took a step back, I introduced him. "Jasper, this is Bella Swan. She's a… friend?"

He rolled his eyes "Jasper Whitlock. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said with a quick bow. When he straightened up, he gave her a quick wink. "Apparently my brother and I have some things to catch up on after all of this." He turned back towards me. "So, what's the plan?"

Bella swiveled her head toward me. "Do you have a plan?" she asked.

"Uh, well… I was thinking that if Jasper was willing to call Alice, we could track the call? She wouldn't have a reason to encrypt her regular phone, so I'm hoping she hasn't bothered."

"And if she did bother?" Bella asked.

"Then we figure out a plan B."

"You might want to contact that friend of yours you mentioned. Apollo, was it?" Jasper suggested.

Bella and I glanced at each other. I nodded that she could trust him and then she stepped forward. "Hi Jasper. I'm Apollo. Nice to meet you."

"Well goddamn. My brother and I really do have a lot to catch up on," he said with a laugh.

After talking for a bit so that we were all working with the same information, Jasper ducked out to try to call Alice.

After a few minutes of silence, Bella asked, "Is he okay?"

"I don't know, Bella. I've never seen him like this. He loves Alice so much. And I know Alice loves him. I can't imagine what he's been going through being separated from her and now this? It's so fucked up."

Before she could answer, Jasper walked back into the room. "I called her, but she didn't pick up so I left a message. I also called Carlisle and Esme to let them know what was going on. They're going to head our way but hang back. We don't want Alice to feel ganged up on, but we may need their help in containing her."

"I know you both think it's Alice, but I'm going to keep looking to see if any other leads pop up, just in case you're wrong. And for what it's worth, I hope you are wrong," Bella said.

I shot a thankful look her way. The only indication Jasper had heard her was a barely perceptible nod of his head. He stared at the wall opposite him, eyes unfocused, while absentmindedly flipping his phone in the air and catching it. His phone rang, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked at the display and nodded at us before answering.

"Hey darlin'... how are you? I've been missing you something fierce. Uh huh. OK. Alright. No, no, I'm glad you're taking the time you need. All I want is for you to be happy. How's Edward? Oh really? Still doing the vampire vigilante thing? He has a partner now, huh? Named Apollo? Interesting." He looked at Bella, eyes pleading that she had enough to trace the call. Having this conversation with Alice, knowing that she was lying to him about everything, was killing him. She made the sign to stretch it out and he winced and closed his eyes while still listening to Alice on the other end of the phone. "Are you staying safe, darlin'? You're not out with Edward and this Apollo fella, are you? Yes, I know you can handle it, I just worry about you." Bella gave him the thumbs up as we could faintly hear Alice chattering through his phone. "Alright, I'll let you go. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your shopping trip. Take care of yourself. And Alice, I love you. Please know how much I love you." He listened to her response and ended the call. He gazed at his phone for a moment and then, quicker than Bella could probably see, threw it against the wall where it shattered into tiny pieces of plastic and glass. He slumped against the wall and put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Jazz."

"Yep. Me too." He sighed deeply and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Bella, any luck?"

She handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. "Why don't I give you guys a second while I go suit up?" She gave me a sad smile as she ducked out of the room.

Jasper looked towards the door where Bella had just exited. "You're going to let her be in this fight?"

I chuckled. "There is no let, Jazz. She'd be there regardless. I figure if we have her above us with arrows to pick off any metas in the way, it will make our lives easier."

He nodded. "I want her to have some flaming arrows with her. Just in case." I looked at him in shock and saw the army man he once was, resolute in his mission and aware of how badly things could go. As I gathered the arrows that Bella would need, he pulled two bags of blood out of his knapsack. "One is animal. One is not. I didn't want to assume what Alice has been feeding on given everything else. Both have a sedative that Carlisle said should work in the short term if we need it."

Bella came back into the room and raised an eyebrow at the supplies we had pulled out. She touched one of the arrows that could be lit on fire and looked at me, questioning. "Jazz's request. Just in case." She nodded and added them to her quiver.

I looked at them both. "Ready?"

Jasper looked at me and I could see the glimmer of despair in his eyes under the resolute soldier. "Can't say I am, but move out."

Bella took my motorcycle while Jasper and I ran over the rooftops to the warehouse that Bella had tracked Alice's cell signal to and reconvened there. We decided Bella should go in via the roof access hatch, and Jasper and I would enter from the doors in the front and back of the building.

"Bella, only take out metas if you can do it silently," Jasper instructed. "We need you to be our secret weapon if it comes down to it."

"Got it, boss," Bella replied, saluting him, trying desperately to lighten the mood. A wisp of a smile crossed his face as she ran off silently into the night.

"That's a helluva girl there, Edward."

"I know," I said and looked at him. "Now, let's go get yours back."

I took the front entrance and, with the element of surprise, was able to dispatch several metas without any trouble. I worked my way further into the building, downing any metas I came across as quietly as I could. Apparently, I was not quiet enough.

I heard a tinkling voice behind me. "Hello brother. Now what could you be doing here? You wouldn't be going all big bad vigilante on your own sister, would you?"

I turned slowly and looked into my sister's ruby red eyes. "Alice," I said quietly. I searched her face for a sign of the sister I loved and only saw fury and despair. And then I saw the blowtorch in her hand.

"Alice, why are you doing this?"

"Why? Oh Edward. You're so happy not to hear voices anymore. Jazz has his own emotions back. And me? Me?! I was nothing after the blip. I couldn't see the future, I couldn't control the future, and I was NOTHING."

"So you started feasting on humans? You decided to take over a city? That makes you feel better?!"

"Do you know what makes me feel better? It's MY choice to feed on what I want. MY choice to be here. MY choice to take control. MY choice if this city lives or dies. You don't understand! After the blip, I might as well have been back in that mental institution where I didn't even get to decide what I ate or if I got to leave my room. And I refuse to go back to that place, Edward. I REFUSE!"

"Oh Alice," I whispered. "I had no idea."

The heartbroken look on her face broke something in me and I took a step forward with my arms open, ready to embrace her and tell her we'd figure everything out. She softened slightly and her grip on the blowtorch relaxed. As I took another step forward, a slight squeak of metal came from overhead and Alice's features hardened into absolute fury.

"You set me up," she accused as she brought the blowtorch to life. She sneered at me. "Is that your little partner in crime? Apollo, is that right? Great, he can die in the fire of a thousand suns once I'm done with you. Maybe I'll even drink a little first. Maybe I'll understand the fun in playing with my food."

Jasper stepped out of the shadows. "Hey darlin'."

"Jazz? I don't understand. What are you…?" She spun towards me, the blowtorch crackling with life. "You. You brought him into this." She took a step towards me and I could start to feel the heat from the flame.

"Hey, vamp girl. Lose the blowtorch or your mate gets it." Bella stood up, arrow alight and pointed at Jasper. I looked up and gasped. From the angle we were standing, you could imagine her as one of the Greek Goddesses looking down on us from Olympus. She was the very image of Apollo, standing tall and fierce, radiating immense power with fire flickering behind her.

Alice locked eyes with her and they stared at each other, gauging intent and silently analyzing what the next move would be. While I don't think Bella would ever shoot Jasper, you'd never know it to look in her calm, cold eyes.

"I'm not kidding, Alice. I will kill Jasper if you don't turn off that blowtorch right now. And I won't kill you after I'm done with him. I'll let you live with the knowledge that you killed your own mate."

Alice took a moment and realized she could not win. She slowly turned off the blowtorch but still had it in her hand.

"That was a good choice, Alice. Now roll it across the room," Bella instructed.

Alice bent down and did what she was told. As soon as she let the blowtorch go, Jasper rushed to her side and cradled her in his arms. She struggled for a moment and then collapsed, her whole body wracked with sobs. He picked her up and found a place to sit, gently placing her in his lap without ever breaking contact. As she sobbed tearlessly, he rocked her and rubbed her back while whispering in her ear. He gently encouraged her to drink some of the tainted blood so that she could calm down.

Bella blew out her arrow, turned off her voice modulator, and climbed down from her perch. "Well, that happened," she said, her voice shaking as she pushed back her hood.

"It did. Thank you." I gently removed the mask from her face and then put my arm around her shoulder, pulled her close against me, and kissed the top of her head.

"Should we go over there?" she asked.

"No. Leave them be. Carlisle and Esme will be here soon to help Jasper take care of Alice. I doubt she wants to see me right now."

Bella leaned her head on my chest and sighed, the day's tension slowly draining from her muscles. We stood there for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

"So, about that date…"

I tilted my head and looked down at her, my eyebrow cocked. "Yes?"

"Do you think we could maybe skip the whole restaurant thing and just go to my place, order me some food, drink some wine and relax in the bath?"

"I think that can be arranged. Do I, uh, get to join you in the bath?" I swear, my voice went up an entire octave when I asked that question.

"How old are you again? Do you not recognize a blatant invitation when you get one? I swear, it was so obvious, even Cap would have seen the big red, flashing neon sign of an invitation that was. He would have blushed and stammered, but he would have understood it for what it was. You have an awful lot to learn, vamp boy."

I grinned at her as we walked outside. "Teach me."

THE END


End file.
